Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Zombie Run Fun!

Saturday I headed an hour and a half away to Gulfport, Mississippi for the Zombie Run! I was meeting my fellow Gulf Coast bloggers Larisa, Gina, Holly, Melanie, and Heather there for some zombie fun! The plan was to be a zombie for a few hours and then run the race. I had already planned to NOT run the race for a few reasons...had some conflicts at home, I was running a half marathon the next day, and I wanted to make it home in time to meet Scott Jurek at my local bookstore. But I thought being a zombie would be fun!

I love what charity the Zombie Run was raising money for...Smile Train! Smile Train is a charity that raises money for cleft lip and palate repairs for children in developing countries.

Doing this was a huge step out of my comfort zone! I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy the experience but I didn't want to miss out on the fun with my fellow blogger friends. So I sucked it up and was determined to have a great time!

We were told to wear clothes that we didn't mind being messed up and ruined. My friend Stephanie went with me to the Goodwill to find a flannel type shirt earlier in the week. I wore that with a pair of black yoga pants to complete my zombie look.

We were requested to arrive about an hour and a half before our zombie shift so that we could be transformed into a zombie. This involved lots of makeup to help us look dead, dirty, and wounded. There was also a lot of fake blood and fake pus used! Disgusting! They basically used liquid latex (to create wounds) and red Karo syrup for the blood. There were tons of "make-up artists" there to help us get transformed.

Here are some of my zombie transformation pictures!

Of course I had to have some fun with being transformed into a zombie! Larisa was a willing sport!

After our zombie make up was done we headed to the blood spatter department. Gotta have some bloody handprints right?!

After about 15-20 minutes the zombie transformation was complete! Don't we look awesome?!

Finally it was time to take our posts as zombies. We were told we had to be in character from now on. Hehehe!

Once we reached our post we had about 45 minutes or so until runners were supposed to appear. So what do zombies do? Well take lots of zombie pictures of course! And there may have even been a video of us zombies doing the Harlem Shake lol!

Zombie yoga?

They took us to the last obstacle on the course. They told us that at this point the runners were going to be pretty tired...so it would be easier to feast on their flag-brains! Basically each runner was given 3 flags at the beginning of the race. If they finished the race with at least one flag then they were a "survivor." If they finished with zero flags then they were "infected." So our goal as zombies was to take their flags!

The obstacle we were manning had the runners run into a field of zombies and grab a bow without getting their flags taken (if they had any left). Then they climbed onto an obstacle where they had one chance to shoot a zombie (with a Nerf bow and arrow of course). If they shot one of the zombies then they would earn a flag back.

From there they would climb off the obstacle and run to barricades that they had to climb over. But they had to get past the zombies that were between each barricade! I was one of the zombies between barricades. And let me tell you...it is a lot harder to grab flags than you would think! I sprinted, lunged, and leaped after each runner that came through! I growled at them! I tried to grab their flags as best as I could! I was successful with some...and some I lost. Many of the runners at this point were flagless but I still lunged at them. Hey...gotta stay in character right? It was a lot of fun!

After about 3 hours our zombie shift was over. And it was time for us to run the course. Even if I could have I wouldn't have run the course....I was so tired! Being a zombie is exhausting!

Another picture with some of our new zombie friends!

We headed to the finish area to grab our shirts and medals. Why yes you get a medal at the Zombie Run!

The runners that finished with flags were survivors of the Zombie Apocalypse and got the "survivor" medal!

The runners that finished with zero flags...and the zombies...got the "infected" medal!

There was also a great after party going on! They had a band playing, free beer, and The Shed BBQ was there serving food (although it wasn't free).

The stage (taken before the race).

Heather couldn't make it that morning to be a zombie so she came to run the race. I felt so bad because I was leaving and the others had decided to leave too. But Gina came to the rescue and stayed to run with her! Before we left we had some fun with her!

Hehehe! It's fun being a zombie!!! I can't wait to read Heather and Gina's recap on the race portion of the Zombie Run!

The race shirt, bib, and medal were pretty sweet! The shirt was even a tech shirt! Now I need to figure out which running skirt I'm going to wear with it! ;-)

Overall the Zombie Run was a blast! I had so much fun dressing up and being transformed into a Zombie! Would I do it again? Absolutely! And next time I want to definitely run it too!